Workplace sitting is associated with self-reported general health and back/neck pain: a cross-sectional analysis in 44,978 employees

BMC Public Health

Björn Ekblom¹  Tobias Holmlund¹  Elin Ekblom-Bak¹  Victoria Blom¹  Jane Salier Eriksson¹  Lena V. Kallings²  Peter Wallin³  Gunnar Andersson³ 

[1] Department of Physical Activity and Health, The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH), Box 5626, SE-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Physical Activity and Health, The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH), Box 5626, SE-114 86, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;HPI, Health Profile Institute, Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Sedentary behaviour;    Breaks;    Exercise;    Public health;    Health risk;    Self-reported health;    Working population;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-10893-8

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTotal sitting time is associated with a higher risk for cardio metabolic disease and mortality, while breaks in prolonged sitting attenuate these effects. However, less is known about associations of different specific domains and breaks of sitting on general health, back/neck pain and if physical activity could influence these associations. The aim was to investigate how workplace sitting and frequency of breaking up workplace sitting is associated with self-reported general health and self-reported back/neck pain.Methods44,978 participants (42% women) from the Swedish working population, who participated in a nationwide occupational health service screening 2014–2019, were included in this cross-sectional study. Self-reported sitting duration and frequency of breaks from sitting at work, general health, back/neck pain, exercise, leisure time sitting, diet, smoking, stress and body mass index were assessed. Occupation was classified as requiring higher education qualifications or not. Logistic regression modelling was used to assess the association between workplace sitting/frequency of breaks in workplace sitting and poor general health and back/neck pain, respectively.ResultsCompared to sitting all the time at work, sitting ≤75% of the time showed significantly lower risks for poor general health (OR range 0.50–0.65), and sitting between 25 and 75% of the time showed significantly lower risks (OR 0.82–0.87) for often reported back/neck pain. For participants reporting sitting half of their working time or more, breaking up workplace sitting occasionally or more often showed significantly lower OR than seldom breaking up workplace sitting; OR ranged 0.40–0.50 for poor health and 0.74–0.81 for back/neck pain.ConclusionsSitting almost all the time at work and not taking breaks is associated with an increased risk for self-reported poor general health and back/neck pain. People sitting almost all their time at work are recommended to take breaks from prolonged sitting, exercise regularly and decrease their leisure time sitting to reduce the risk for poor health.

【 授权许可】

CC BY